The year I turned forty (2004) I was planning to have a big party and a week or so later travel to an exotic destination and have the time of my life, but “life” had other plans for me. I did have the party with champagne flowing, friends laughing, music playing, and plenty of dancing. And life was good! Then a few months later life knocked me on my butt and nothing has been the same since the night I said good-bye to my thirties.
In 2004, I was admitted to the hospital to be evaluated for ongoing numbness and loss of sensation in my right leg. A CT scan of my brain was done and a lesion was found.
I endured a battery of test to rule out a possible defect in my heart and MS, but those results were negative and I was informed that I would see the neurologist every six months, indefinitely, to monitor the status of the lesion. In 2007, I was told “lesion” is synonymous with tumor and I cried, daily, for two weeks wondering how I could possibly have a brain tumor.
Two years later, the tumor began to grow and I was scheduled for surgery. A three-hour biopsy was performed, 13 samples of the lesion were excised, and a final diagnosis was made: The tumor is an astrocytoma glioma and I HAVE GRADE II BRAIN CANCER!
I’ve consulted with over 10 doctors in an effort to find answers and different opinions, but they’ve all come to the same conclusion - the tumor is lodged too deeply in my brain to remove it without causing irreparable damage. I've had radiation and chemotherapy in an effort to fight this horrid disease and though I am sometimes exhausted from fighting, I'll never give up!